Character guide

Mr. Kara

major

Also known as Kara, Remington Kara, Kara Rumo, old Kara

Kara moves through the Lexmans' lives as a generous acquaintance whose charm conceals something predatory; he engineered the introduction between John Lexman and the sinister Vassalaro. Grace admits she is dreadfully afraid of him, and her confession to T. X. Meredith links Kara to a Salonika meeting, a violent outburst, and an attempt on her life. His obsessive streak and his strange hatred of candles make him the still center of the mystery that pulls the novel forward.

John Lexman

major

Also known as Lexman, Mr. Lexman, John, old Lexman

Lexman is the popular novelist whose books T. X. Meredith's circle reads, a man of curious, deliberate speech who has traveled through lawless hill villages and witnessed punishments no English drawing room would credit. His friendship with Kara introduced him to Vassalaro, and his planned lecture before sailing to America becomes an occasion charged with dread. Caught between his professional instinct to dissect a crime and the human cost of living inside one, he is both the story's victim and its reluctant interpreter.

T. X. Meredith

major

Also known as Mr. Meredith, Thomas Xavier Meredith, Tommy, Thomas Xavier

Thomas Xavier Meredith—Tommy to his friends, Mr. Meredith to the young woman who refuses to be one—is a police officer whose intuition Signor Paulo Coselli called abnormal. He is friend enough to John Lexman to hear his theories, and investigator enough to reconstruct the locked room in Cadogan Square with a stopwatch, alone, three times over. His easy banter with Belinda Mary Bartholomew and his growing gravity as the case resists him make him the reader's companion through every false trail.

Grace Lexman

major

Also known as Grace, Mrs. Lexman, Grace Terrell, poor Grace

Grace met Kara during a prolonged honeymoon at Babbacombe, where his introduction of Vassalaro to her husband set the whole disaster in motion. She confesses to T. X. that Kara once proposed to her and that she is dreadfully afraid of him, wringing her hands in remorse for her silence. Her withheld story gives the investigation its emotional stakes and explains why she cannot simply warn John without wounding him.

Superintendent Mansus

supporting

Also known as Mr. Mansus, XI Superintendent Mansus

Mansus is the steady official presence beside Meredith—waiting outside the death chamber for an hour and a half, stooping to pick a revolver cartridge from the grass at the crossroads. Where T. X. leaps by intuition, Mansus supplies the plodding legwork that keeps the inquiry honest. His quiet reliability anchors the investigation as the clues grow stranger and the theories multiply.

Fred Fisher

supporting

Also known as Fisher, Mr. Fred Fisher, Mr. Fisher

Fisher belongs to the small circle around Lexman, which places him near the crime and under the scrutiny of Meredith and Mansus. His friendship with the novelist is precisely what makes suspicion fall on him, and the tension between loyalty and evidence shadows his every appearance. Whether he is a trusted ally or something else is one of the early questions the investigation must answer.

George Gathercole

supporting

Also known as Gathercole, Mr. George Gathercole, Mr. Gathercole

Gathercole moves through the Bartholomew establishment as staff whose comings and goings are noticed more than his words. In a household where a daughter slips out at eleven and a butler named Jacks keeps his own counsel, the domestic order is a surface that cracks under scrutiny. His value to the early arc is atmospheric and evidential: the reader learns to watch the servants, because in this book the servants are watching everyone.

Belinda Mary Bartholomew

supporting

Also known as Belinda Mary, Miss Bartholomew, Miss Belinda, Belinda, Mary

Belinda Mary Bartholomew moves through the fog of Portman Place with a key and a scheme, congratulating herself on a plan she cannot fully control. She is the story's most dangerous kind of innocent: frightened enough to seek out T. X. Meredith in her hour of danger, yet implicated by a cellar, a locked door, and a pair of long-bladed scissors wound in her own handkerchief. Her presence forces the detective into an impossible choice between duty and mercy, and that choice drives the middle of the book.

Mr. Vassalaro

supporting

Also known as Vassalaro

Vassalaro lived in the Adelphi for business and in Great James Street for whatever the business was not. His wife had gone four months before his death, and his landlord was still owed six months' rent, which tells you most of what you need to know about how he ran his affairs. When Mansus overhears a stranger on a bus mention his name, the search of that second lodging turns up a tin case wrapped in foil, and the plot pivots from a locked-room puzzle into something with a paper trail.

Miss Holland

minor

A secretary or assistant in the story.

The Tall Turk

supporting

Also known as the Turk, The Turk, Turk

The Tall Turk appears in the memoir of a prisoner held in Kara's palazzo, where Salvolio's brutality is a nightly entertainment. He is a man of immense strength and few words, and when he decides a scene is over, it is over: one stride, one arm around the body, one knife wiped clean on a dead man's jacket. He matters because he shows the reader, early, exactly what kind of world Kara's household belongs to, and what kind of men do his work.

The Greek

minor

Also known as the Greek

A mysterious Greek character involved in the plot.

Sir George Haley

minor

Also known as George, Sir George

A baronet and acquaintance of the Lexmans.

Lady Bartholomew

minor

Also known as Lady Mary Bartholomew

Mother of Belinda Mary Bartholomew.

Mrs. Beale

minor

Also known as the terrified Mrs. Beale

A housekeeper or servant who is frightened by events.

Sir William Bartholomew

minor

Also known as Sir William, William Bartholomew

Father of Belinda Mary Bartholomew.

Salvolio

minor

A mysterious figure mentioned in connection with the crime.

Hussein Effendi

minor

Also known as Effendi, Hiabam Hussein Effendi, Hussein

A Turkish official or associate of Kara.

Mrs. Cassley

minor

Also known as the astounded Mrs. Cassley

A woman who appears in a scene with the characters.

The Frenchman

minor

A minor character of French nationality.

Lord Henry Gratham

minor

Also known as Henry Gratham, Harry

A nobleman mentioned in the narrative.

O'Grady

minor

A minor character, possibly a servant or associate.

Curious Mike

minor

A minor character with a curious nature.

Mary Ann

minor

A maid or servant in the household.

Poropulos

minor

A Greek character, possibly an associate of Vassalaro.

The Abigail

minor

Also known as Abigail

A servant or attendant character.